This invention relates to a crane mounted on a shipping and stowage container. More particularly, this invention is for a slewing crane secured to the end of a shipping and stowage container utilizing powered and/or manual force for lifting/lowering loads, extending/retracting the loads and swinging or slewing the loads in the horizontal plane.
Containers are widely used in air, sea and land transport of goods since they keep many items together as a lot and protect them from damage during the haul. Large transport, vehicles can carry rows and columns of the containers that can rest singly or in stacks on decks and/or pallets.
The great majority of shipping and stowage containers in commercial air and maritime commerce have evolved into a standard design. The standard established by ISO 1161 requirements by the International Organization for Standardization defines containers of standardized dimensions and ruggedness to promote efficiency and safety for air and maritime use. The ISO 1161 containers are robustly constructed with rigid side walls mounted on strong frameworks that have a heavy-duty block-shaped corner fitting at each of the containers' eight corners. The corner fittings and other parts of an ISO 1161 container can be made of steel, aluminum or other tough material.
The ISO block-shaped corner fittings have outward facing elongated openings sized to receive appropriately dimensioned heavy-duty rotatable bayonet portions of standard single or double-cone twist-lock fittings. When a cone-shaped bayonet portion of a single or double-cone twist lock fitting is inserted through an opening and into an ISO 1161 corner fitting, the inserted portion is manually rotated a partial turn via an attached small twist-lock lever. This rotation of the inserted bayonet portion securely engages the twist-lock fitting to the block-shaped corner fitting, and when the other cone-shaped bayonet portion of the double-cone twist lock fitting is inserted through an opening and into a piece that needs to be interconnected, the other inserted portion is manually rotated a partial turn via an attached small twist-lock lever to secure the piece to the container. A considerable number of ISO 1161 corner fittings and interfacing standard single or double-cone twist-lock fittings are well known and commercially available.
Frequently, the need arises for strong lifting mechanisms at containers to help in the performance of work tasks in the area adjacent the containers or to help load or unload some goods to or from containers through one of their several closable openings. Currently, readily affixed mechanisms that are specifically designed for lifting/relocating items at the containers are not known. Typically, external non-fixed lifting equipment must be brought to the work site at the ends of shipping and stowage containers and there utilized to lift/move things. When such non-fixed lifting equipments are available on ships at sea, ship motions may make the use of such forklifts or portable hoists impractical and/or unsafe. In addition, some stowage compartments and holds on ships may have insufficient overhead clearance and/or capacity to mount an adequate lifting device to lift loads at the ends of the containers. Cranes potentially can be mounted internally in the shipping and stowage containers, but internally mounted cranes cannot slew the load past the plane projecting out from the vertical side wall of the container. Another limitation of internally mounting cranes in the containers is that they will consume too much valuable space inside the containers and compromise the amount of material that can be stowed and shipped. In addition, these internally mounted cranes can be fixed in size and may not be easily removable or further erectable to accommodate different sized containers.
Thus, in accordance with this inventive concept, a need has been recognized in the state of the art for a slewing crane externally mounted on a shipping and stowage container utilizing powered and/or manual force for lifting/lowering loads, extending/retracting the loads and swinging or slewing the loads in the horizontal plane.